40% of AIDS Cases Go Unreported in Carolina

AP

Published: November 28, 1989

CHICAGO, Nov. 27—
AIDS cases, especially among blacks, have been grossly underreported in South Carolina and could be more numerous nationwide than records indicate, researchers say.

Of 153 AIDS cases that should have been reported to the South Carolina authorities from January 1986 through June 1987, 62, or 40 percent, went unmentioned, according to a study in the current issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

''If underreporting to the degree observed in this study is widespread in the United States, current estimates regarding the extent of the epidemic should be viewed with caution,'' the researchers said.

''It is unclear if the present findings apply to other states, although it seems reasonable to assume that similar underreporting may exist elsewhere.'' Discovery of Problem

Researchers led by a physician with the state's Bureau of Preventive Health Services discovered the omissions by examining records of nearly 600,000 patients discharged from nongovernment hospitals in South Carolina.

They identified AIDS cases by matching symptoms reported on the discharge records with classification guidelines developed by the Federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Cases the researchers identified as AIDS were then compared with those reported to the state's AIDS case registry, said Dr. George Conway, an epidemiologist who led the study and now works for the AIDS division of the Federal agency.

Ninety-one of the 153 individual cases, or 59.5 percent, were properly reported, the study found.

The study said blacks and women with AIDS were more than twice as likely not to be reported properly, but Dr. Conway said researchers could not explain why, and the reportgave no numbers.

Dr. Conway said there was no way to calculate the extent of underreporting of AIDS cases. The Federal centers estimates that 10 to 30 percent of AIDS cases have not been properly reported to the authorities, said Dr. James Buehler, an AIDS surveillance specialist at the centers. 112,241 Reported AIDS Cases Since the AIDS epidemic began in the early 1980's, 112,241 cases have been reported nationwide.

''Underreporting minimizes the importance of the epidemic and threatens the public health response,'' Dr. Buehler wrote in an editorial in the same issue of the journal.

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is one of several infectious diseases that doctors are required under state and Federal regulations to report to the state authorities, who then are to pass the information on to the Federal agency.

''Doctors don't get thrown in jail for not reporting diseases,'' Dr. Conway said. ''The worst they get is a letter.''